In a new regular series, the PBT writers give their opinions on a question of the day. This week:

Is Robert Horry a Hall of Famer?

Kurt Helin: No. It’s not even really close for me. Robert Horry has one of my favorite playoff moments ever (sorry Kings fans) and he provided us plenty of thrills on his way to seven rings, but he was a role player. He’s a guy who had the fortune to be in the right place at the right time, plus he had ice water blood that let him hit big shots, but he’s also a guy who averaged 7 points a game over the course of his career, who had a career PER of 13.4. If — as there should be — there were an NBA Hall of Fame then we could highlight him in the corner about the biggest buzzer beaters in league history. But even in an NBA only Hall Horry doesn’t make the cut. The Hall is for the elite, and Horry was a good role player. Sorry.

Dan Feldman: No. No way. Horry deserves to make the Hall of Fame as much as Tom Sanders does. Who’s Tom Sanders? Exactly. Hall of Fames should honor players who had great careers, not just great moments. Horry had a good career and plenty of great moments, but without his Hall of Fame-level teammates, Horry never would have been position to make his big shots. Championships are a team accomplishment, and Horry played a role in seven. But making the Hall of Fame is an individual accomplishment, and Horry doesn’t come close to deserving it.

D.J. Foster: How about a yes for the Forrest Gump of basketball? Despite the uncomfortable amount of individual accolades to Horry’s name (no All-Star games, no All-NBA selections), you can’t deny the historical impact he had on the game. Ask yourself this: what does the league look like without him? How many titles swing another way? Do Sacramento and Phoenix get rings? Does the stretch 4 era really catch fire without Horry and his teams ushering it in? Maybe the butterfly effect shouldn’t have an impact on Hall of Fame decisions, but I think I’m okay with the Hall preserving performances and acknowledging an overall impact on the game instead of imposing certain statistical benchmarks.

Brett Pollakoff: While I would say no initially, it’s definitely not as cut and dry as “no way” or “absolutely not.” This is the basketball hall of fame, remember, and not simply the NBA’s version of where the immortal players of the game are enshrined. All types of questionable characters are inducted based on shaky contributions to the game at large, and I tend to lean more with D.J. here in that Horry’s being at the right place at the right time and coming through in the clutch on multiple, very important occasions deserves to be remembered by future generations.

This is an easy one: NO! As much as I am a fan of “Big Shot Bob”, he is in no way a HOF’er. Derek Fisher is one of my favorite LAKERS. Does he belong in the HOF? No. Neither player did enough to merit such an honor. Rings matter but, if it’s a close call, you also have to have been great in one or two categories (Rodman: defense, rebounding), or have stats to go with the rings (Joe Dumars).

Would you be opposed to them getting their jerseys retired and hung in the rafters (Horry AND Fisher)? I wouldn’t. It wouldn’t happen but I would love for it to. To me they are Laker legends, despite the lack of individual accolades.

Also, Horry’s shots tended to be real difference makers in the respective playoff series. As DJ Foster pointed out, the Kings may have had a championship, the Pistons may have had an additional championship, the Spurs may have had one less….

Most of the Fisher shots I remember were against teams that the Lakers likely would have beaten anyways.

That Horry shot against the Kings is just too epic. Down 2-1 in the series, down by 2 in the game, after Kobe and Shaq miss close range shots….he just picks up the ball and drains a game winner as the buzzer goes, with 2 Spurs jumping at him. That is a top-5 clutch shot in NBA history.

Mitch Richmond is more deserving of the Hall of Fame then Horry or Chris Mullins!!!! The Hall and whomever does the induction selection is a joke!! And why is Spencer Haywood not in the Hall based on his total body of work in college, ABA, and the NBA???In his rookie season, Haywood led the ABA in scoring at 30.0 points per game and rebounding at 19.5 rebounds per game, And Haywood made the USA Olympic Basketball team in 1968. Haywood was the leading scorer on the USA’s gold medal winning basketball team during the 1968 Olympics at 16.1 points per game, and he set a USA field goal percentage record of .719,and led the NCAA in rebounding with a 21.5 average per game while scoring 32.1 points per game during the 1968-69 season, How is this dude not in the Hall??? It took those geniuses forever to induct Bernard King, and Tark the shark!!!!

Chris Mullin was a much,much better player than any player you named,excepting Bernard King. Mitch Richmond does not belong in the same sentence with Chris Mullin. Spencer Haywood was an outstanding player who descended into drug hell and did his best to erase the many accomplishments of his earlier years….

as good as chris mullin was, it’s ridiculous to say he was much, much better than richmond or any other all star caliber player of his era. richmond was arguably the best sg in the league not named michael jordan..

Loved Chris at St Johns , great pro career. But Mitch was a Load against my Knicks for far too many years . The guy was the total package, could drive with strength to the hole, post up like the big O and had a great jumper.Carried the team on his back for many years. I hope he , chris and Spencer al get in the Hall together.

Chris Mullin got in because of his college career and Olympic work too!! Spencer Haywood Drug problem should not exclude his total body of work form college and the Olympics and the ABA!!! and Richmond was better then by the way AN Alcoholic substance abusing Mullins!!!

Odd how the HOF selects instead of elects the old ABA greats (like Spencer) to its special party. I recall Spencer Haywood as an absolute monster for the University of Detroit Titans (who count 1983 HOFer NY Knicks Dave DeBusschere, as an alumni) and also of him proudly wearing his Olympic gold medal on campus.

Absolutely. Horry made countless shots that impacted the history of the game. While players like McGrady and Weber had incredible individual careers you can’t dismiss the fact that Horry won 7 championships with 3 teams.

I remember scouts, coaches, and commentators said Horry had Scottie Pippen potential, that he was the next Scottie. He never lived up to that, so I always looked at him as guy who didn’t achieve the individual success he should of have. The man helped plenty of teams win rings and is a winner, but no way is he a HOF’er.

I loved Horry. “Big Shot Rob” was a fantastic team player and obviously with that nick name was a clutch shooter. Still one of my favorite players but not a hall of fame material based on his overall career.

7 points a game for his career? this is ludicrous. big shot bob was one of the biggest underachievers of his time. all that talent and he just did not care, until the playoffs of course. this question is a joke.